How research into healthcare staff use and non-use of e-books led to planning a joint approach to e-book policy and practice across UK and Ireland healthcare libraries.

The research goals were to obtain an understanding of who the users of e-books in the NHS are, what they are using e-books for, and when and how they use them. This article presents the methodology used and the findings from the research. It also explores the outputs and next steps from the research, both for the individual countries and collectively. The Five Nations group, (library leads in England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) commissioned research into healthcare staff use and non-use of e-books to understand the behaviours, needs and expectations of healthcare staff and to identify shared challenges around e-books to inform policy and practice.

Search Club: Using peer support to develop search skills and share knowledge in a specialist NHS team.

The newly-formed Knowledge Management team at Health Education England (HEE) established an internal "Search Club" for their Knowledge Specialists to share good practice, exchange ideas, and discuss approaches to developing search strategies. The article describes how this was initiated and run online. The sessions improved the Knowledge Management team skills, and gave them an opportunity to share and learn from each other. A further benefit has been the creation of resources such as a "synonyms bank", search strategies, and a bank of grey literature sources. These reduce duplication of effort, save time, and improve consistency across the team's output. D.I.

It's Great up North: maximising the learning and development opportunities provided by organising and attending a regional event.

In 2019 Health Education England supported health care library knowledge service staff in the Northern region to organise a two-day event to share knowledge and expertise, and to develop their networks. The article describes how the event was organised, emphasising the advance planning and development opportunities provided for participants, such as webinars, and randomised coffee trial meetings between participants. Of the 100 participants, 60 delivered a poster, workshop or presentation. Reflective evaluation of the event by the organising committee indicated that networking was actively encouraged, and that a higher proportion of library assistants participated than usual. Concludes that the virtual aspects of the event worked well, and that future events could include a mix of face to face and virtual sessions. D.I.

eBook management in NHS libraries in the North of England: perceptions and practice.

In this article, Katie Nicholas presents the findings of a very topical piece of research into the use of eBooks in health libraries, which she completed for a Masters dissertation. Katie graduated with an MA in Library and Information Management (Distinction) from Manchester Metropolitan University in July 2017. She would like to acknowledge the support of her supervisor, Rachel Delbridge, in helping her to gain a Distinction in her dissertation. In the article, she points out that the use of eBooks in the NHS is low compared to other sectors and she presents the findings from her research, which help to explain this. She outlines the development of an electronic tool to help library and information staff make sense of the complexity around eBooks and makes further very practical recommendations for practitioners. A. M.